Revelation chapter 19. Now, oftentimes in our day, when a preacher stands and announces
that his text will be in the book of Revelation, Men and women expect to hear some interpretation of all the
symbolic things that we read about in this book. But hold your place in chapter
19 there, and turn back also to chapter 1. Because this book is not about
signs and wonders and schemes of coming events and such as
that. Look at what it says, beginning in that first verse, the revelation of Jesus Christ. It's His revelation and it's
about Him. And we can come to these chapters
and develop schemes of eschatology and look at all the symbols and
try to interpret them, but if we miss the Lord Jesus Christ
in this, we missed everything. the revelation of Jesus Christ
which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which
must shortly come to pass. And he sent and signified it
by his angel unto his servant John, who bare record of the
word of God and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things
that he saw. Blessed is he that readeth, and
they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things
which are written therein, for the time is at hand." In John's
day, He says, the time is at hand. But now look with me back
over in Revelation chapter 19. John writes, "...and after these
things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven saying,
Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and honor
and power unto the Lord our God. For true and righteous are his
judgments, for he hath judged the great whore which did corrupt
the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of
his servants at her hand. All the false religions of all
the ages are here pictured by this great whore, this one who
is oft described in that character as the one who seduces and deceives
and destroys. And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever
and ever. And the four and twenty elders
and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on
the throne saying, Amen, Alleluia. And a voice came out of the throne
saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear
him, both small and great. And I heard, as it were, the
voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters,
and as the voice of mighty thundering, saying, Alleluia. for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice and
give honor to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His
wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she
should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine
linen is the righteousness of the saints. And he saith unto
me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage
supper of the Lamb. And he said unto me, These are
the true sayings of God. And I fell at his feet to worship
him. And he said unto me, See thou
do it not, I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren that have
the testimony of Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony
of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.' And I saw heaven opened, and
behold, a white horse, and he that sat upon him was called
Faithful and True. And in righteousness he doth
judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire,
and on his head were many crowns. And he had a name written that
no man knew but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture,
dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. And the armies which were in
heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen,
white and clean." Now, if we are among those who, as the Apostle says, have
been translated into the kingdom of God's dear Son. If we are
among that people, every fresh and every glorious
view of our King will be our blessing and our comfort. And I thought about what a privilege
it is And what a blessing it is just to read the verses that
we have read. Because it is the promise of
God to His people that their eyes shall see the King in His
beauty. And we sang just a few moments
ago A song, a hymn that makes reference to this very thing. We sang that old hymn, Crown
Him With Many Crowns. And that is exactly how the Apostle
John sees the Lord Jesus Christ in this glorious vision. Because in this chapter, the
Lord Jesus Christ is called the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And throughout this book, he
is contrasted to Satan, who is called here the Great Dragon,
who is said to have seven crowns. And he's also contrasted to this
one who's described in this symbolic language as the beast who's said
to have ten crowns. But the King of God, the King
of all the elect of God, is the king who is said to have many
crowns. Look down at verse 12. John says, "...his eyes were
as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns." Many
crowns. And the glorious thing is that
even in that statement, we hear announced once again the humanity
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That humanity that is joined
with divinity on His head. The head that was laid on the
breast of His mother. and the head that was bowed as
it bowed on the cross and yielded up the ghost." The head that
bowed, and as we've seen in John, it says that he bowed and wept. So it is in this person, it is
in this God-man that we find this king who wears many crowns
on his head. Hold your place here and turn
back to Psalm 2. Psalm 2, where he says, Why do
the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against
His anointed, saying, Let us break their bonds asunder, and
cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens
shall laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them
in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my King upon my
holy hill of Zion." Regardless of what men say, regardless of
what they plan, regardless of what they seek to do, to throw
off the authority of God and His King. He says, I have already
set my King upon my holy hill of Zion. Look also in Psalm 21. Because here in Psalm 21 it says,
"...the King shall joy in thy strength, O Lord. In thy salvation
how greatly shall he rejoice." We need to remember that this
was a great earthly king who was saying this. But this one
who is called David's son also, he is called David's Lord, or
David's King. Thou hast given him his heart's
desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips. For thou preventest him with
the blessings of goodness, and thou settest a crown of pure
gold on his head. He has life of thee, and thou
gavest it him even length of days for ever and ever. His glory
is great in thy salvation." He's talking about the greatest king. His glory is great in Thy salvation. Honor and majesty hast Thou laid
upon Him, for Thou hast made Him most blessed forever. Thou hast made Him exceedingly
glad with Thy countenance. For the King trusteth in the
Lord, and through the mercy of the Most High, He shall not be
moved." You see, this one who is described
as riding a white horse is described with these glorious words that
set him apart from every other and set him above every other. And so John says that the one
that he sees in this vision on his head were many crowns. Now there are so many ways that
the Spirit of God uses to show us the glory and the superiority
of the Lord Jesus Christ over all things and all people. But there's something about the
crown that signifies not only superiority and authority, but
also glory. He wears on His head many crowns. And one crown that He wears without
any doubt whatsoever is the crown of deity. The Apostle Paul, saying
of the same one that John writes about here, saying of Him that
He thought it not robbery, to be equal with God." In other
words, he in his humanity, he as the man Christ Jesus, he wears
the supreme crown of divinity as God manifested in the flesh. And John knew this well because
he had already written in his gospel account, he began that
gospel account, led of God's Spirit, by saying, in the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. But that's not all he said. He
said in just a few verses later, "...and the Word was made flesh
and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the
Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." In
other words, the Lord Jesus Christ in His humanity, In His being
this man Christ Jesus, He also at the same time wears the crown
of deity because He is God manifest in the flesh. When Paul writes
to Timothy, he states it in one of the clearest single verses
that we ever could think of and study to our benefit. He says
it like this, and without controversy. It cannot be questioned. It cannot
even be explained. But it must be declared, he says,
and without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness,
God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen
of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the
world, and received up into glory. He wears the crown of deity as
a man, the God-man. And not only that, but He wears
another crown without any doubt whatsoever. He wears the crown
of creatorship. As the Creator of this world
and all things, He wears the single crown. And that's why
Paul, when he writes to the church at Colossae, he says, for by
him, he's talking about the man Christ Jesus. God the Son, He
says, for by Him were all things created that are in heaven and
that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones
or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created
by Him. and for Him, and He is before
all things, and by Him all things consist." Here He is not only the sovereign
Creator, but He also still stands as the One who is sovereign over
that creation. Do you remember when On one occasion,
the disciples were witness to the things that He did. And they
were always found to be in awe. And the things that He did, they
all together made manifest that He was more than just a mere
man. And so when He stilled the storm,
And when He calmed the sea and the winds, they said, what manner
of man is this? What manner of man is this that
even the winds and the sea obey Him? He's the one that wears
the crown. He is the Sovereign Creator and
He rules and reigns as the Sovereign over all His creation. John again, "...all things were
made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was
made." And that's why all that we have going on in this world,
all the various teachings and theories of men such as evolution
and global warming and a host of other things, they are nothing
more than men trying to wrench out of the hand of God the rule
of all His creation and take the throne and crown to Himself. He controls the winds, and the
seas, and the rain, and the storm, and the sun, and the moon, and
the elements of weather. Altogether, He wears that crown,
and none can take it. And then He wears the crown of
what I call universal sovereignty. Now, men and women, they don't
mind a bit. saying that He's King of kings
and Lord of lords. They don't mind, for the most
part, saying even that He's sovereign over all things, because they
really don't understand what that means. But the truth is,
the Lord Jesus Christ, He wears the crown of universal sovereignty
over all people. And when He came into this world,
when He came and at times it was said of Him that He was the
King of the Jews or He was somehow the Messiah or the Ruler, they
would simply respond in this way, we will not have this man
to rule over us. But he is here described as the
King of Kings. In another place we read this,
the heart of the King is in the Lord's hand, and like rivers
of water, He turns it wherever He will. You ever fly up in an airplane
going on a flight somewhere and when you get about a thousand,
fifteen hundred feet off the ground and you look down at the
ground and you see a river or a creek and it's never like you
think it lays out. It weaves and it twists and it
winds and it goes this way and that way. Who's the cause of
that? It's the Creator and the Sovereign. You see, as the King of kings,
He exercises as the ruler of all, and having dominion over
all things, and power over all things, and authority in heaven
and in earth. What is free will? Nothing but
man's rebellion against the notion and truth of God's sovereign
will. He says, can I not do with my
own what I will? You and I, as human beings, having
the little kingdoms that we think we have, do we not find it very
offensive if anybody flies into our face or our business and
tries to do something we don't like? We say, mind your own business. My friends, all of these things,
all of the people on all the earth, no matter who it is, no
matter where it is, no matter what's going on, He wears this
crown alone and exercises a universal sway and authority over every
living soul, even the devil. The devil is simply put, God's
devil. He does with him what he will,
he turns him loose as long as it will bring glory to him, and
he restrains him when it doesn't. He exercises this sovereignty
in such a degree that a king, an earthly sovereign by the name
of Nebuchadnezzar had to confess this. He said, "...and all the
inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing, and He doeth
according to His will in the army of heaven and among the
inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay His hand or say
unto Him, What doest Thou?" Do we believe that? He does His
will, not only in the armies of heaven, but also among the
inhabitants of the earth, and there is no one who can stop
Him. He wears that crown. Paul describes him in Ephesians
1, and he says of him, "...in whom also we have obtained an
inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him
who works all things after the counsel of his own will." the counsel of His own will. You could say this, and it is
absolutely true, whatever is going on in this world right
now, doesn't matter whether it's your life or my life, our country,
the government, the leaders of this world, the countries of
this world, No matter what is going on, whatever is going on
right now, that's the will of God. You say, well, I didn't have
to charge God with wrong or error. You see, man views what's going
on in this way as if there is a God. Everything's got out of
his control. But my friend, there is a God.
There is a God that has been manifest in the flesh and who
at this very moment sits on the right hand of the majesty on
high, and guess what He's doing on earth? His will. Somebody always says this, well,
if that's the will of God, what's going on on this earth, and that's
the way He is, then I want no part of Him. That doesn't matter. We can say ridiculous things
like that. We can, in our ignorance, claim
to take such positions as that, and it will not change Him or
His will, not one bit. It's His will. Paul said, this
is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. And what
it may appear on the one hand, we in our blind eyes can only
see it in the light, which is darkness to us, but in God's
will and purpose, it's right and it's good. I don't know if you've read the
book of Esther very much in the Bible, but there was a man in
the book of Esther thought himself a very prominent figure in the
kingdom by the name of Haman. And he was always trying to promote
himself. He was always trying to take
over the kingdom. He was just like Satan himself
is with the kingdom of God. And so he worked it around to
where he said, now, the man that does the most for this kingdom,
the man who's done the most for the king, to honor the king,
and he's talking to the king all this time, The man that's
done the most, let him be taken, and let him be clothed with the
king's robe, and let him wear the king's crown, and let him
ride the king's horse, and let him be led all throughout the
kingdom to be honored by the king." And the king said, well,
that's a pretty good idea. And so here's Haman, he's kind
of tugging on his lapel, he's thinking, This is me. This is what's going to happen
to me. From that position, I'll probably take over the throne
itself." But then the king said something, and this killed Haman. He said, let Mordecai the Jew
be taken, and let him wear the king's robe. and let him wear
the king's crown, and let him ride the king's horse, and let
him, and only him, be glorified in the kingdom." Do you know
who Mordecai was? Well, the book of Esther, there's
that woman's name Esther, but she's not the chief figure in
the book of Esther. She's just a picture of the Bride
of Christ. Her and that people, the Jews,
they're just a picture and a type of the Bride of Christ. Mordecai's
a type of Christ. It's by Mordecai's knowledge,
it's by Mordecai's doing, it's by Mordecai's wisdom that they
are delivered. And he's a type of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And all the Haman's in this world.
And there's been a lot of them, and as long as time stands, there'll
be a lot more of them. There are a lot of them this
day in which we live. And many of them, maybe most
of them, are all in the religions of this world. But they're not
going to wear the crown. God's already appointed the universal
sovereign of the universe. And Paul said this, writing to
Timothy, he said, in his times, He didn't just say, in His times. But He said, in His times, He
will show who is the blessed and only potentate, only sovereign,
the King of kings and Lord of lords. You see, Paul is already,
by the Spirit of God, told us that, Here is this one who thought
it not robbery to be equal with God. Here is this one who humbled
himself and became as a man and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. But he said to him, every knee
shall bow and every tongue shall confess that He is the Lord to
the glory of God the Father. In heaven, in earth, and in hell,
He wears the crown. He is the Lord Jesus Christ who
has power over all flesh, to give eternal life to as many
as the Father has given Him. He will be gracious to whom He
will be gracious. He will have mercy on whom He
will have mercy. And He can do that because He
wears the crown. And He wears also what I've called
the crown of redemptive glory. He wears the crown as the Mediator. And this is so contrary to our
natural way of thinking. This is so contrary to our flesh. It is so strange to us that while
He was on earth, here, His crown was a crown of thorns. Look over
in Matthew's Gospel. In Matthew chapter 27 and verse 29, it says, "...and when they had
plaited a crown of thorns." Now, I don't know if you've ever noticed
it or ever recognized the fact that when the Lord Jesus Christ
was being tried, was being convicted unjustly, and was being taken
to the cross, the thing that they mocked Him in the most was
His kingship. What did they do? They smote
Him with a reed, gave it to Him and called it His scepter. They
put a purple robe on him as a mocking gesture of royalty. And then they took these thorns,
plaited them together in the fashion of a crown, and pressed
them down on his head. And in their hearts, they were
saying, we have overcome this king. No. All you did was crown Him with
the redemption crown. And when you look at our text
this morning, this One who is so glorious, this One who is
crowned with many crowns, this One who is singled out and His
glory expressed in such a way as to distinguish Him from every
other, this One who is called faithful and true. Verse 13 says,
And He was clothed with a vesture, Dipped in blood. He is everywhere associated with
blood redemption. He is everywhere said to be the
one who is the Lamb that shed His blood. And this is His greatest
glory. It is His glory as the Redeemer
of all His people, His glory as the Savior of sinners, His
glory as the Head of the church. Do you remember what the psalmist
being led of God's Spirit said concerning Him? He said, I have
set my King on this holy hill sign. That's the Lord's church. That's
the Lord's people. And He must be crowned as such,
and He wears in that hour this crown of thorns that He might
wear the crown of grace and glory. When you look back in the Old
Testament, and you see that great high priest
who once a year goes into the Holy of Holies, and he wears a special garment.
He actually dresses as a king. He wears this white garment to
symbolize the purity of Christ. He wears that breastplate with
the twelve stones set in it that signify all his people. Somebody said, those twelve stones
represent spiritual Israel. On his shoulders are these signets
that have inscribed the names of the twelve tribes, just symbolizing
simply that when he goes before God and he sprinkles this blood
on the mercy seat, he carries with him and in him, on his heart
and on his shoulders, his people. But he also wears a crown, a
golden mitre, and inscribed on that golden mitre is, Holiness
unto the Lord. A lot of folks going around calling
themselves holiness. There's only been one holiness.
Holiness unto the Lord. And that's the one that He represented. That's why He went by Himself
there once a year. Because He's a picture. type
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior King. And in the Psalms
He says, open up ye gates, open them wide. Heaven opens to this
One who is described there as the King of glory. Who is this
King of glory? He is the Lord of hosts. One
day I want to preach on that, if I can ever get enough understanding.
He's the Lord of hosts. That means simply that in all
He does before God, He has His hosts with Him. They're pictured
in this text. He's the Redeemer. They're the
redeemed. Christ said, Father, glorify
Thou me now with Thine own self, with the glory which I had with
Thee before the world was. As God the Son, essentially God
the Eternal Son, that glory can't be added to. But as the man Christ Jesus,
taking on Himself this work, standing in old eternity as the
surety and as the Redeemer of His people, He came. And that blood, when that priest
went in that Holy of Holies, he sprinkled that blood on the
mercy seat. There was not a place for him
to sit down anywhere because that work was never finished.
But that very mercy seat, If you see how it is described,
it is essentially in its gold, in its glory, a throne for the
King. And so the apostles tell us that
when He entered in once, and by Himself He purged our sins,
we couldn't do it. He's the only one that could.
He wore that crown. But when He had by Himself purged
our sins, the sins of His people, all their sins, He sat down at
the right hand of the Majesty on high. Let me read you a verse
out of Isaiah. Isaiah in chapter 63. He sees
this sight much like John sees in the Revelation. He says, "...who
is this that cometh from Edom," that's the world, "...with dyed
red garments from Basra, this that is glorious in his apparel,
traveling in the greatness of his strength?" Here's the answer. I that speak in righteousness,
mighty to save. He wears the crown of redemption. He wears the mediatorial crown,
the crown of the Savior. Wherefore art thou red in thine
apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the wine-fat? I have trodden the wine-press
alone, and of the people there was none with me. For I will
tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury, and
their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will
stain all my raiment. For the day of vengeance is come
in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come." He's mighty to save. Sometimes I get, as a preacher
of the gospel, I get awed. and twist it up. I want people
to hear. I want people to believe. I want
people to come to Christ. I want people to know the truth. I want people to be saved. I
know they can't save themselves. I know they have to be saved.
And I know what God has commanded, that the gospel be preached.
But sometimes I get one to doing that work myself. But He's the only One mighty
to save. He's the only One mighty to save. And He's not waiting
to be crowned with that glory. The Father has already glorified
Him, and He's already seated on the throne of glory. And what
is this One even that Abraham saw? He's the King of righteousness
and the King of peace. Look over in Hebrews 2. In verse 9. The Apostle says in verse 9 of
Hebrews 2, But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than
the angels, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory
and honor. that he, by the grace of God,
should taste death for every." But that word man is an addition. So we'll have to define this
every by what we find in this chapter. Every what? Every one of his brethren? Every one of his children? Every one of the seed of Abraham? He tasted death in their place. As a matter of fact, he drank
damnation dry. And therefore, he is crowned
with glory. But Paul said, if a man strives
for masteries, he is not crowned except he strives lawfully. And Joe, that's exactly what
Christ did. He strived lawfully. He satisfied
God's justice. He did everything by God's rule
and for God's glory in the salvation of His people, and therefore
He wears the crown. And then He wears the crown of
victory and conquest over all His enemies. And that's what we see all through
the book of Revelation. Somebody said, The theme of the
book of Revelation is this, Christ and His people win, overcome,
are triumphant. One who has on his head many
infinite crowns surely defeats one who has seven or another
who has ten. His enemies will I clothe with
shame, but upon Himself shall His crown flourish." And then He wears the crown of
praise and worship. You see, we don't make Him anything. We praise Him for what He already
is. We praise Him for what He's already
made Himself. We praise Him for what He's already
accomplished. This is what He brings His people
to when He brings them to faith in Himself. And they crown Him
with praise and worship. They give to Him all the glory,
acknowledging Him as their King and Savior, the Lord their righteousness. And His name is the Word of God. And they said, when all His enemies
are cast into hell, they said, what? Hallelujah! And they rejoiced, and they praised
Him. And they are crowned, it says,
with crowns of gold, which they cast all their crowns at His
feet." Look at what it says in verse 6. After they are told,
all His servants, all ye that fear Him, great and small, Praise
our God! What's it going to be? Verse
6, And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, and
as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings,
saying, Alleluia! Why? For the Lord God Omnipotent
reigns. Omnipotent is how He is, and
reigns is what He does. He wears all the crowns, many
crowns. In that day shall the Lord of
hosts be for a crown of glory and for a diadem of beauty unto
the residue of His people." When David went forth and he
conquered the Ammonites, this is the way it was done. Here is David, the king, the
conquering king, and he goes into the greatest city of the
Ammonites, maybe. And he goes in, and before him
in shackles and bonds are all the people of rank and authority,
and especially the king. They're conquered. But it says
that they took that king's crown off his head. And the weight thereof was a
talon of gold with the precious stones, and it was set on David's
head." They took the crown from the
defeated one, And that heavy crown of gold full of precious
stones they put on David's head. Because he was the king. When it says mighty, or many rather, crowns, the Greek
word is actually diadems. Diadems. Look in your hymnal
at verse 36. All hail the power of Jesus'
name. Let angels prostrate fall. Bring forth the royal diadem. and crown Him Lord of all. Ye chosen seed of Israel's race,
ye ransomed from the fall, hail Him who saves you by His grace,
and crown Him Lord of all. Crown Him ye martyrs of your
God, who from His altar call. Extol the stem of Jesse's rod,
and crown Him Lord of all. Let every kindred, every tribe
on this terrestrial ball to Him all majesty ascribe and crown
Him Lord of all. Oh, that with yonder sacred throng
we at His feet may fall, we'll join the everlasting song and
crown Him Lord of all. Crown Him with many crowns. Because on His head are many
crowns. He's King of kings. He's Lord
of lords. He wears the crown of deity.
He wears the crown of redemptive glory. He wears the crown as
the Creator and the Ruler of the universe. He wears the crown
of redemption. And may He wear the crown of
praise from us if we're His people. Just go back and read that chapter
again. This is no ordinary man. But thank God He is a man. Because as a man, God in flesh,
He wears the crown of redemption glory. Father, this day we thank
You We always have our cares and our fears and our failures
and all these things, but, Lord, nothing would help us more than
for You to give us a fresh revelation of Yourself that we might be
enabled to see again our King in His glory. King of kings,
Lord of lords, vesture as it had been dipped in blood, coming
forth always mighty to save. Save us, we pray. Help us, we
beg. We ask it all in His glorious
name. Amen.